Sunday, June 12, 2011

52 Weeks of Genealogy: Clothes--Double Trouble!

My mother, Daisy Schwartz Burk, was a twin (see the toddlers in the older photo below, in which Mom is probably the smiling girl on the right side, next to her older sister, Dorothy Schwartz). She was often dressed exactly like her fraternal twin, not just for photos. Not surprisingly, Mom wasn't a big fan of matching outfits, because they seemed like a gimmick to show off "twin-ness."

That's why Mom rarely dressed me and my fraternal twin alike. The exception was on special occasions such as when we were going to be photographed by a pro (see the pony-tailed youngsters at right, below). The 99% of our wardrobe that we wore to school and for play did NOT consist of matching outfits--which meant we could share clothing and mix and match from a much larger selection.

As children, my twin and I would (once in a while) dress like the other and try to fool people, just for the fun of it. Usually we got away with it for an hour or two. Growing up, we valued our separate identities and made separate friends. We remember our mother and aunt talking on the phone every night, so it's no wonder that my twin and I call each other just about every day.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Oh how I wanted to dress alike more often! I thought it was fun fun fun. Now maybe after 6 months it would have lost its charm, but I loved the idea nonetheless. Dressing alike makes for instant conversation. Adults and children notice and it's easy to proceed from there.To this day I notice twins as I'm out and about and always ask the mom how it's going. Aren't they cute??

About Me

Who writes college-level marketing textbooks? Even in the digital age, somebody has to do it. Back in my corporate days, I was a bank marketing exec and retail manager. Now I love doing genealogy. My genealogy book is: "Planning a Future for Your Family's Past" (also one of my presentation topics).